Part Two: The Method
Chapter 3 Reading For Life
I had to laugh when I read the first few pages here when Rafe talks about the staff meeting. Ours are not so laborious and seem to stick to bullet points of information with some timely discussions in table groups thrown in. I guess my administrator has seen the light.
This chapter is dedicated to changing the face of reading as we know it. Rather than forcing students to read for tests, measurements, questionable comprehension and actually very little as far as connection to their own lives, Rafe wants us to put the love for reading in the front so that students will be life long readers. He is right when he says that we read for our own enjoyment. I am reading this text to learn more about how I can do my job better. That is personal motivation.
I would be interested in hearing the thoughts of others who actually teach reading - to older kids. My kindergarten kids are not yet masters of reading and I am teaching them mostly basic concepts about navigating through a book.
Chapter 4 Writing
Hmmm. Now I'm committed here. I have started to recap my impressions of the chapters and how they may impact my teaching but Rafe has made me feel like a student again. I am presenting my best effort (in the little bit of time I can spare and with minimal rewrites) but I am writing about someone who teaches and grades real writing assignments and suddenly I'm feeling a bit shy about him possibly seeing my work.
Okay, so I blow by that and move on.
Step 1 Start Me up: Grammar / Interesting that this is in the writing chapter as I usually think of it as a speaking task but writing uses grammar as well and being able to present your thoughts aloud or in text carries the same onus. You want to communicate your thoughts comprehensibly and written words can be read and reread for ages to come. I like that Rafe gives grammar an important place in his classroom. I have heard that student essays for teacher exams are loaded with errors in both grammar and spelling. The reviewers are appalled by what they read and can't imagine that these students plan to teach others.
Step 2 Essay of the Week / Good, rather simple task that teaches time management as well as writing. Because the task is repeated every week, the students can learn about what works and what doesn't work for them and their lives.
Step 3 Monthly Book Report / I can appreciate the fact that Rafe asks them to choose a simple text for this exercise. If they comprehend the story and all its elements, they will be better able to reflect on the deeper meanings of the text and even draw comparisons to their own lives.
Bringing these ideas back to my own kindergarten classroom experience, I can relate to the teaching of writing as an exciting and rewarding task. The students can feel the growth and see their own improvement. As a teacher, I can teach the elements at the time the student is most ready to learn them, and I can watch how they make the lesson their own. For some students it's developing a cohesive story idea; for others it's teaching the use of capital letters or the importance of spacing and punctuation. The writing continuum is a long one indeed, and I know my students and the things they will need to address at each session of Writers Workshop. Giving the students the tools they need to become good writers is critical and this process will go on throughout their school years.
For those interested, you can see a piece of our Writers Workshop in action. I created this little video to share with a friend who was editing a book on writing and presenting many workshops on the subject. I wanted him to see that the writing process begins early on and needs a solid foundation in listening and speaking. Since this video, I have thought it would be a good idea to show all of the different parts of the writing experience as it relates to kindergarten. I'll save that project for next year as I only have 3 days left in this one.
http://tinyurl.com/n3xloj
